Dioscorides' Plants, Then and Now
κάππαρις

caper

Capparis spinosa L. · Capparaceae
Identification: CertainNot endemic to GreeceLC Least Concern
Risk rank
31 of 32 (30–31)
Risk score
0.18(0.18–0.18)1 · Low

Then and now

2050 · moderate emissions. SSP2-4.5, 2041-2060, 3 climate models; ranges show the spread.

The plant
κάππαρις
Photograph of Capparis spinosa
Capparis spinosa, one of the species pooled for this plant. Photo: IssamBarhoumi · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons (photo of caper)
2050 · moderate emissions
Natural Earth (PD) · model output · ~10 km cells
Loading map layers (0 of 1)
Layers
Range keptLost by 2050Gained by 2050Cultivation zoneNatura 2000Occurrence cellCells ≈ 10 × 10 km

Occurrences are aggregated to ~10 km cells; exact points are never published. View range data as a table

De Materia Medica · Book II · ch. 173c. 50–70 CE
κάππαρις
kapparis
κάππαρις· οἱ δὲ κυνόσβατον, οἱ δὲ καπρίαν, οἱ δὲ κόρακος μῆλον, […] θάμνος ἐστὶν ἀκανθώδης, ἐπὶ γῆς γυροειδῶς ἐστρωμένος, ἀκάνθας ἀγκιστροειδεῖς ἔχων ὡς βάτος …
Modern identification
Capparis spinosaL. · CapparaceaeCertain

Greek capers are split into C. orientalis, C. sicula and C. zoharyi in the Greek checklist; GBIF keeps C. orientalis separate, so its records are pooled with C. spinosa s.l. Source: Sprengel 1830, vol. 2, p. 483; Fraas 1845, p. 116; Osbaldeston 2000.

Full citation and quoted evidence

Sprengel 1830, vol. 2, p. 483 (Comm. II cap. CCIV): discusses names; 'Ceterum descriptio optima'; the very acrid caper from the Red Sea coast and Africa = perhaps Forsskål's Capparis redif s. oblongifolia. The species name for the main plant is given only in Index V, p. 702: 'Capparis spinosa L. 483' (and 'Capparis oblongifolia Forsk. 483'). Sprengel does not distinguish C. spinosa from C. orientalis (Linnaean C. spinosa s.l.). Fraas 1845, p. 116: '1. Capparis spinosa L. var. ovata W., rundblättrige, gemeine Kapper' = κάππαρις Theophr., κάππαρις Diosc. 2,204 'der noch einige andere ausländische Arten anführt'; very common in plains, among stones and on rocks (C. rupestris on sea cliffs), Attica, Boeotia, Corinth, Argos; 'folia ovalia apice mucronulato - retusa'. Osbaldeston 2000, ch. 2-204 KAPPARIS: SUGGESTED Capparis spinosa. Confidence raised to 'certain' for C. spinosa L. in the broad (pre-segregate) sense; no source opened distinguishes C. spinosa s.str. from C. orientalis (Fraas' 'var. ovata' and 'C. rupestris' are not mapped to modern names here). (https://archive.org/details/BIUSante_dioscsprengelx02/page/n484/mode/1up ; https://archive.org/details/synopsisplantaru00fraa/page/n161/mode/1up)

Opening words of the chapter (Wellmann numbering). Edition: Wellmann, Pedanii Dioscuridis Anazarbei De materia medica, vol. I (Berlin 1907), p. 240; read off the archive.org page image (item b21459162_0001; the OCR of this volume is not usable Greek); ϑ printed as θ. See the page scan.

No European Medicines Agency herbal monograph for this species.

Projected range change by 2050

2050 · moderate (SSP2-4.5)+161% (+147 to +177%)
2050 · high (SSP5-8.5)+191% (+184 to +208%)

Median and spread across 3 climate models. Whisker axis −80% to +20%, dashed tick at 0; a chevron means the value runs beyond the axis.

Suitable cultivation area, 2050 moderate0 km² (0–0 km²)

Risk score breakdown

0.18 (0.18–0.18)Low risk class 1
00.51.0
  • Range loss 0.00 of max 0.40 · (0.00–0.00)
  • Endemism 0.00 of max 0.20 · not endemic
  • Conservation status 0.00 of max 0.20 · LC · Least Concern
  • Harvest pressure 0.18 of max 0.20

Stays in the top 10 in 0% of 1,000 random weightings.

How the score is built, and how sensitive it is to weights

Model quality

Standard grade
AUC (spatial block CV)
0.85 ± 0.02
Distance-only baseline AUC
0.76 ours is higher
Boyce index
0.95 ± 0.03
TSS
0.57 ± 0.03
Occurrence records
952 after cleaning (of 1,902)

5-fold spatial block cross-validation (~25 km blocks); ± is one standard deviation across folds. Null model AUC 0.51. The baseline scores each held-out point by its distance to the nearest training record, on the same folds. "Standard" grade means ≥ 30 records, AUC ≥ 0.75 and above the baseline; fewer than 10 records is a data gap; anything else is low grade.

Suggested action

Monitor

Stable or expanding; keep watching harvest and status.

Rule: Gains or keeps habitat · no 2050 cultivation zone.

See the action plan

Identification through time

Who has matched κάππαρις to which modern plant, from the Renaissance to today.

All names through time
Cited for the identification we modelProposed an alternativeAlternative preferred by our sourceAlternative rejected by our sourceCommonly proposed, not verified by us
Renaissance commentators
Linnaean botany & Flora Graeca
Edition
Modern
150016001700180019002000
  • κάππαριςDMM 2.173 · caperCapparis spinosaCertain

Select a mark to read who proposed which plant, and the source we read it in.

Dates are each authority's main herbal or commentary (approximate, "c."), used to order the timeline. Claims are parsed from our curated identification table; every quote links back to a page scan or edition on the plant page.

Caveats

  • Greek capers are split into C. orientalis, C. sicula and C. zoharyi in the Greek checklist; GBIF keeps C. orientalis separate, so its records are pooled with C. spinosa s.l.

Range data (map alternative)

ScenarioSuitable ~10 km cellsChangeShare in Natura 2000
Now724—20.4%
2050 moderate1,341 (1,303–1,398)+161% (+147 to +177%)22% (22–22%)
2050 high1,448 (1,404–1,484)+191% (+184 to +208%)22% (21–22%)